Complexity, Criticality, and Computation (C3) Research Camp

The University of Sydney

Monday 30 November - Friday 4 December 2015

The study of complex systems is about understanding indirect effects. Why is it necessary to study complex systems? Humans are typically inclined to use reductionist logic. To understand how a system would behave overall, or to test whether a human-made system works as it was intended to, we put it through a series of ‘short, discrete’ scenarios, expecting a ‘correct response’ to each scenario. However, complex systems do not lend themselves to short, discrete scenarios. Not all scenarios have clear endings or known, correct answers. How do we evaluate the usability of, or predict the behaviour of systems that are too complex for our typical reductionist reasoning? The answer to this question is not intuitive or trivial, and a specific skill set needs to be developed in order to answer it.

We considered a diverse range of systems, applications, theoretical and practical approaches to computational modelling of modern complex systems such as health, including information theory, agent-based simulation, network theory, nonlinear dynamics, swarm intelligence, evolutionary methods, and computational neuroscience, among others.

Program

Theme 1: Mathematics and Simulation for Complex Systems

30 November, morning: Validating Simulation Models, and
Multi-Agent Systems in the Social Sciences – Prof. Robert Marks
(University of NSW), part 1, part 2, part 3